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PROCEEDINGS 

OF THE 

GKEAT MEETI]\G 

OF THE 

FRIENDS OF CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, 

WITHOUT DISTINCTION OF SECT OR PARTY, 

HELD AT THE 

BALTIMORE EXCHANGE, 

OCTOBER 23, 1837, 

FOR THE PURPOSE OF GIVING AN EXPRESSION OF PUBLIC OPINION 

UPON RECENT OUTRAGES COMMITTED AT BOSTON UPON 

THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS OF ADOPTED 

FELLOW CITIZENS. 



Bull & Tuttle, Printers. 



PROCEEDIIVGS. 



The great meeting at the Exchange, the proceedings of which are 
herewith officially presented, was, in number and respectability-, equal 
to any meeting that ever assembled in the Baltimore Exchange. Gen- 
tlemen of the highest standing in society, and of unimpeachable pa- 
triotism, co-operated in its object, and gave the force of their names 
and their eloquence towards the prostration of that "wild spirit of pro- 
scription," wherever and by whomsoever directed; and so ably alluded 
to in the preamble as "marking for its victims the generous and con- 
fiding, and more particularly the emigrants from Ireland, a nation 
meted out and trodden under foot." The object of the meeting was to 
get an expression of public opinion in defence of naturalized rights, an 
object which patriotism every where must approve. It is gratifying to 
find that the meeting exonerates a large portion of the citizens of Boston, 
from any participation or sympathy in the "outrages." "The Cradle of 
Liberty" cannot "become its Grave," the memories of Lexington and 
Bunker Hill forbid it, the genius of freedom and charity pervading every 
bosom of the free sons of New England, will arouse them with indigna- 
tion to put down the vile faction which has attempted to pollute her sa- 
cred altar; and prove to the world that the soil immortal for its resistance 
to tyranny cannot consent to forge the chains of slavery for others. The 
following proceedings are those which were adopted, other resolu- 
tions were offered, but rejected, and are not reported here, because 
they partake too much of party feeling — an aspect which the pro- 
moters and FRIENDS of the meeting industriously endeavored to avoid. 

Pursuant to public notice, a large number of the citizens of Baltimore 
assembled in the Exchange, on Monday evening, 23d instant, filling 
the rotunda and avenues Ions; before the hour fixed for the meetino*. 

At seven o'clock, the Hon. Isaac McKim organized the meeting by 
calling col. Samuel Moore to the chair, who in a plain, lucid man- 
ner returned thanks for the honor, and explained the object of the 
meeting. 

On motion of Joshua Vansant, esq. Henry S. Sanderson was chosen 
secretary. 

William Krebs, esq. moved that a committee of five be appointed by 
the chair to nominate six vice presidents and three additional secre- 
taries. The chair appointed as that committee William Krebs, T. W. 



Griffith, J. B. Latimer, Henry McKinnell, and R. M. Welsh, esqrs. 
^vho retired, and in a few moments reported the Hon. B. C. Howard, 
Z. Collins Lee, J. P. Kennedy, David Hoffman, Samuel Lucas and 
William Crawford, jr. esqrs. as vice presidents, and Philip Laurenson, 
Charles Soran and William P. Preston, as additional secretaries. 

On motion of William H. Tiernan, esq. the president appointed a 
committee of fifty-eight, consisting of the following gentlemen, to sub- 
mit a preamble and resolutions for the action of the meeting. 

William Henry Tiernan, Gen. Geo. H. Stewart, Gen. Sheppard C. 
Leakin, Gen. W. H. Marriott, Col. John Spear Nicholas, Col. Samuel 
Owens' Hoffman, Col. E. L. Finlay, Col. J. E. Stansbury, Hon. Isaac 
McKim, Major Solomon HiUen, Capt. James Kelly, Capt. Wilham H. 
Watson! Capt. John Creagh, William Gwynn, Thomas Murphy, Isaac 
Munroe', Samuel Harker, Francis Gallagher, Neilson Poe, Col. Francis 
H. Davldge, Joseph White, Robert P. Brown, John S. Donnell, James 
Fortune, Samuel F. Merritt, William L. Marshall, David Hoffman, 
Charles R. Carroll, Robert Barry, (St. Paul's st.), Charles F. Mayer, 
Jacob I. Cohen, jr. David Stewart, George Waters, John Walsh, John 
Nelson, Cavin Byrne, R. D. Millholland, J. J. Speed, Joshua Vansant, 
M. Courtney Jenkins, E. Chaisty, M. D., J. D. Daniels, Elijah Stans- 
bury, jr. James L. Ridgely, C. McGuire, M. D., Walter Price, Felix 
Jenkins, John Soran, Robert Howard, James McKinnell, James C. 
Barry, Thomas Parkin Scott, James Bacon, William H. Collins, Sa- 
muel Kirk, Joseph K. Stapleton, Col. J. L. Maguire, John McColgan. 
The committee after remaining out a longtime returned, and through 
their chairman, William H. Tiernan, esq. prefacing it with some appro- 
priate remarks, explaining the outrage which gave rise to this meeting, 
reading the official paper from head quarters with the resolution of the 
common council of Boston, and an account of the transaction from the 
Philadelphia Public Ledger, reported the following preamble and reso- 
lutions, the reading of which was frequently interrupted by well merit- 
ed bursts of applause from eveiy portion of the assembled multitude. 

Whereas, The friends of civil and religious liberty in New York, 
have held a meeting, for the purpose of expressing their deep sympa- 
thy in behalf of their Irish fellow citizens in the city of Boston, and of 
publishing to the world their indignation of the many unprovoked out- 
rages lately perpetrated upon their persons and property, and of the 
extraordinary excitement which has recently manifested itself to the 
eastward: in the destruction of the Ursuhne Convent— in the dastardly 
attack upon a large number of them, peaceably engaged in the per- 
formance of the last offices of humanity— and more recently in the 
lawless attack upon the "Montgomery Guards," whose forbearance on 



4 

this occasion has elicited the warmest eulogium; as well as of other 
recent events, which though not attended with any present evil, ap- 
pear to be pregnant with consequences of peculiar peril to the adopted 
citizens of our country: And whereas, There is a wild spirit of pro- 
scription stalking abroad over this fair country, bigotted in its orio-in 
and disgraceful in its consummation, marking for its victims the gener- 
ous and the confiding, and more particularly the emigrants from Ire- 
land — "a nation meted out and trodden under foot" — and who, driven 
from their own shores by the iron rule of despotism, have sought those 
of America for that protection which has been denied them at home. 
As freemen of America, who are happily enjoying those inestimable 
blessings, which are equally the birthright of the generous and warm- 
hearted sons of Erin as of every other country in the world, we are 
deeply sensible how dear to them is the sympathy of those, who, after 
triumphing so gloriously in the universal cause of mankind, well know 
how to appreciate the privileges and immunities of equal liberty for 
which they have contended, and the justice of the cause' in which 
they have suffered. We come forward the advocates of oppressed hu- 
manity; we plead not as sectarians — not as the friends of Irishmen 
alone; we profess every Christian creed; we plead as men who ac- 
knowledge affinity to the whole human family, and we cherish the 
assurance that we address those who are happiest when they extend 
the means of happiness to others. We appeal to Americans, by those 
endearing ties that bind man to his brother — by those obligations es- 
teemed the most sacred among civilized nations — in the name of that 
universal charity, which directs the sensibilities of the heart beyond 
the limits of home, we call upon them in that spirit of true benevo- 
lence which extends its Influence to all, to raise their voice in support 
of the civil and religious rights of their adopted brethren. We appeal 
to the highminded, the chivalrous and the free! — in behalf of the 
brave, the generous and the oppressed! 

We cannot consent to look with tranquil indifference on these fre- 
quent insults upon our fellow men, and not make an effort to fling them 
off, when their rights are invaded and their property destroyed by a 
reckless mob; nor can we consent to become the passive spectators of 
a wicked policy, got up for the purpose of fostering a rancorous party, 
which keeps the country in a state of perpetual discontent, engender- 
ing the worst passions, and provoking the people to reaction by 
reiterated menace and opprobrium. These evils, it is to be feared, 
emanate from a higher source, and there is something like an evil des- 
tiny, guiding the councils of those men, whose duty it is to allay the 
ferment which conflicting opinions and violent prejudices have excited 



5 

in the east. All men have their rights, and tliough our adopted citi- 
zens may patiently endure for a time, the denunciations of their oppo- 
nents, "the oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely" — still it 
but seldom happens, that any class of men under injury, sink so low, 
as not to have left a moral and a physical power, to the exercise of 
Avhich, they may be goaded by systematic persecution. 

We would boldly and warmly step forth in their behalf; command- 
ing as they do, the active sympathy of the patriotic in every clime, 
yet failing to obtain security from their adopted country, which exacts 
from them an equal portion of revenue, and calls upon them in times 
of danger for unlimited appropriations of blood and treasure — and who 
are so peculiarly qualified by their devoted patriotism, their high- 
minded liberality, their generosity and their bravery, for the enjoy- 
ment of the purest blessings of liberty. If any thing could reconcile 
the emigrant to political degradation, it would be, to find the free and 
the enlightened, indignantly denouncing their oppressors, and refusing 
to bend the knee to the Moloch of political fanaticism and religious 
intolerance that would crush them to the dust. Spurned and insulted 
by those whose duty it should be to shield them, they will find in the 
generous expression of American sympathy, the greatest solace for 
their misfortunes, and feel in the general testimonial of American ap- 
probation, the strongest stlmulous for exertion in the preservation of 
their immunities. Let the contemptible scribblers of a prostituted 
press, the dastardly assassins of patriotic character, combine to abuse 
and calumniate them; yet, in a measure, will they be recompensed by 
the cordial approval of even a single honest and philanthropic Ameri- 
can. While the praises of a venal press, and of profligate hirelings, 
would debase the unfortunate objects of their eulogy, and degrade 
them to the level of their own corruption, there is something cheering 
to the heart, and grateful to the feelings, in the kindred sympathies of 
independent minds; testimonials of approbation such as these, are alike 
honorable to those who give, and to those who receive them. They 
were born with souls as free as ours — in valor, integrit\^, public spirit, 
attachment to the land of their adoption, in all that adorns existence, 
in their private and social relations, and in all that embellishes real 
respectability, they are our equals; and they would rather part with 
life itself than drag out an existence upon the condition of submittino-, 
without the privilege of complaint, to be stamped with the oifensive 
badge of inferiority. Their rights are guaranteed by the constitution 
of our common country, in defence of which, their countrymen have 
sealed their devotion by their best blood, and they will defend them. 
They are patient and enduring, but there is a point beyond which for- 



6 

bearance ceases to be a virtue. They are protected by the American 
Eagle, and, let it be remembered by the insulters of our country's 
emblem, that Irishmen 

"Fostered beneath its wing-s, will die in its defence." 

As there are private crimes that threaten the existence of all com- 
munities, so there are public enormities that endanger the peace of all 
countries. It is the business of every member of every community to 
exert himself for the suppression of an outrage and an infringement of 
the laws; it is the duty of every citizen to raise his voice against the 
continuance of oppression. The injustice and intolerance of which 
the Irish are the victims at present, may be directed against us in 
future, and it is our interest, as it is our inclination, if in our power, to 
arrest them. To sustain the dignity of our country and the rights of 
all her citizens, without distinction, is what we look to; in the well 
founded confidence, that in any event, they will be upheld by public 
sentiment among a people who value too highly their privileges as 
American citizens, to suffer them to be wrested from their grasp by a 
lawless and reckless faction. It is true that this prosperous republic 
appears at present placed far beyond the probabihty of being subjected 
to these evils; but history has taught us, that in the sudden revolutions 
of empires, in the strange vicissitudes of human affairs, nations the 
most powerful and the most enlightened, have been subjected to mis- 
fortunes the most unlocked for, to changes the most disastrous. In the 
hour of security, preparation should be made for the moment of dan- 
ger, and the most certain way to insure our civil and religious rights, 
is to stamp tyranny, wherever and by whomsoever it may be exercised, 
with universal execration! But above all, is it incumbent on Ameri- 
can citizens, proud of their name and true to their principles, to exert 
themselves in the cause of equal laws, and stand forward the cham- 
pions of universal freedom. 

Irishmen, and the sons of Irishmen, have ever been among the most 
forward to uphold the rights and maintain the integrity of their adopted 
country; and especially have they aided in obtaining and preserving 
the liberties of that country, whose cordial reception and generous 
sympathy should repay them for the loss of their own. During the 
memorable revolution which conferred upon this country independence 
•and prosperity, in the words of her venerable historian, "Irishmen were 
famous, but the sons of Irishmen were conspicuous." We need but 
cast our eyes upon the monument of our own city, to find inscribed 
upon its scroll the names of their countrymen who lost their lives in 
resisting an invading foe: nor need we refer to the name of "Mont- 
gomery," borne by the "Guards" of Boston, the name of that hero, who 



7 

led the forlorn hope of independence up the rocky heights of Quebec 
and expired on the battle field, cheering on the friends of American 
freedom! 

The justice of their claims, the consciousness of having the approba- 
tion of the liberal and enlightened among mankind, to cheer them, 
must embolden them to measure their constitutional rights with their 
worst opponents, and the time is fast approaching when their success 
is as certain as their cause is just; when this abominable system of 
vindictive proscription and lawless fanaticism may recoil upon their 
enemies, and finally pave the way for resistance to those, who imagine 
they are doing their duty, by depriving their adopted brethren of their 
constitutional weight and importance in the country. Be it therefore. 

Resolved, That the objects resulting from this meeting are designed 
to enforce the facts: that man has a right to worship his Creator ac- 
cording to the dictates of his own conscience, and that his oblations on 
the altar of the Deity can never be rightfully prescribed by human 
legislation; and that a system of local policy bearing upon one portion 
of our citizens alone, shackling their energies and encouraging a spirit 
of internal dissention, by withholding from them the advantages of civil 
and religious liberty, and in pursuance thereof, establishing a system 
of proscription partial in its operation, is unjust in its provisions and 
monstrous in its nature. 

Resolved, That the recent outrage upon the Montgomery Guards 
was an act of inhumanity, a deed of ingratitude for the service of Irish 
defenders of the soil, an insult to the shade of Montgomery, a violation 
of the privilege of citizenship and destructive to the spirit of our re- 
publican institutions, by which, like the universal genius of emancipa- 
tion, the citizen of every clime stands "redeemed, regenerated and 
disenthralled." 

Resolved, That we will adhere to the republican doctrine, that it is 
by an equal participation of civil and religious rights, by a reciproca- 
tion of good feeling and friendly offices and by an identity of national 
interests that we can ever hope to see our country in a prosperous and 
contented condition; and that as Americans, we will use all lawful 
means of extending the blessings of toleration and all the civil and re- 
ligious immunities that give value to existence, — not to any sect or 
party, but to our fellow-men, — the adopted citizens of our country. 

Resolved, That we advocate the rights of the people in the most 
comprehensive sense, and not as the friends of sectarian principles; 
and that we recommend to our fellow citizens, the Irish of Boston, 
to continue the same peaceable and constitutional line of conduct, 
which has heretofore marked their course and has won the admi- 



ration even of their persecutors: and quietly but firmly to remonstrate 
in order to obtain that protection from the laws which they seek, with 
firmness, dignity and forbearance. 

Resolved, That this meeting express their indignant denunciation 
of the brutal attack, made on the Ursuline Convent at Charlestown, a 
peaceful abode of virtue and learning, erected by the pious and sup- 
ported by the benevolent and liberal of all denominations, and also 
proclaim their abhorrence of the more recent desecration of the funeral 
obsequies of the dead, perpetrated at Boston; a solemn ceremony cal- 
culated more than all others to calm the angry feelings of our nature, 
and to lull the bitterest animosities for the interval, if not forever. 

Resolved, That this meeting cannot withhold their belief that a large 
portion of the citizens of Boston, not only, did not participate in, or 
encourage these outrages, but that their feelings and sympathies were 
and are deeply enlisted in behalf of the oppressed and insulted mem- 
bers of their community, citizens, denizens and aliens: that this belief 
originates in, and is strengthened by the recollection, that as Boston 
was the cradle of American liberty, her citizens will never suffer her to 
become its grave. 

Z. C. Lee, esq. seconded the report in a warm and animated speech, 
and was followed by William P. Preston, Thomas Yates Walsh and J. 
P. Kennedy, esqrs. in eloquent support of the same, when the ques- 
tion was taken upon the preamble and resolutions and adopted unani- 
mously. 

Thomas Yates Walsh, esq. offered the following resolution seconded 
by J. P. Kennedy, esq. 

Resolved, That Native American Associations — so called — are at 
enmity with the spirit of our Institutions, and should be condemed by 
every lover of Republican Government. 

Which was unanimously adopted. 

James Hoban, esq., from Washington, being loudly called for, arose 
and addressed the meeting in a strain of true eloquence, which com- 
manded and received its warmest approbation. 

When on motion of Samuel Harker, esq., at 10 o'clock, the meeting 
adjourned. SAMUEL MOORE, President. 

Vice Presidents. 
BENJAMIN C. HOWARD, Z. COLLINS LEE, 
JOHN P. KENNEDY, DAVID HOFFMAN, 

SAMUEL LUCAS, WILLIAM CRAWFORD, Jr. 

Secretaries. 
Henry S. Sanderson, Philip Laurenson, 
Charles Scran, William P. Preston. 



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